KENNY CLARKE-FRANCY BOLAND BIG BAND

It's not often that I encounter any real cause for excitement when combing the DVD racks in local stores, but when I saw this Clarke-Boland Big Band concert DVD, I nearly had a coronary. Despite being one of the greatest jazz big bands ever formed -- in Europe or anywhere else -- their numerous studio recordings aren't easy to find here, so coming across peak-period live footage of the celebrated orchestra boasting trumpeters Benny Bailey, Idrees Sulieman, Dusko Goykovich, trombonist Ake Persson, saxophonists Johnny Griffin, Sahib Shihab, Don Menza, Tony Coe and Ronnie Scott along with the super-tight rhythm section of Jimmy Woode, Kenny Clarke, Fats Sadi and pianist/arranger Francy Boland -- it's a huge deal.

And the 50-minute black-and-white Prague television broadcast, taped in October 1967, captures the group of bandleaders roaring through an unusual set of mostly Boland's own compositions (nothing from Music For The Small Hours) along with hard-swinging blasts through My Favourite Things and Gary McFarland's Ramo de Flores.

Just seeing unheralded giants like Shihab and Goykovich standing up to blow fire is a rare thrill that serious jazz fans will cherish.